The face shields moment has come
THE CLEAR advantageDon’t compromise when it comes to the personal safety of yourself and others.
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ARE FACE SHIELDS BETTER THAN FACE MASKS FOR CORONAVIRUS?
A RAPIDLY GROWING NUMBER OF MEDICAL EXPERTS THINK SO!
Hundreds of millions of Americans heeded recent government advice and rushed to wear cloth face masks, hoping they might prevent transmission of the new coronavirus. But there's another option: The clear plastic face shield, already in use by many health care personnel.
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Medical Reviews & Opinion
Before we share a long list of independent research and medical opinion, it is important to note, There haven’t been a lot of studies done on cloth masks,” tells William Lindsley, Ph.D., a bioengineer with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Research has not actually confirmed that cloth masks block a significant amount of virus from being expelled into the air.
- While cloth masks are thought to work best in terms of protecting others from droplets you expel, they don’t appear to protect you as well from other people’s germs as once generally believed.
- Experts aren’t yet sure how effective they really are in that regard.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s mask recommendations are based largely on research involving medical grade masks or N95 respirator masks, but those kinds of masks are very different from cloth masks.
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In a 2015 BMJ Open clinical trial, researchers found that health care workers who wore cloth masks over the course of four weeks were 13 times more likely to fall ill with respiratory infections compared with workers who wore N95 medical masks.
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1) If you wear a face mask when you leave home, you’re probably not doing it because you want to.
- Masks are awkward and uncomfortable, and they can be difficult to use correctly.
- If face masks aren’t applied or removed with clean hands, or properly maintained, they can actually transmit infection rather than prevent it.
2) Eli Perencevich, M.D., a professor of internal medicine and epidemiology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, and a growing number of researchers think there is a better way; face shields.
3) Face shield proponents argue, based on the laws of physics shields will likely better protect others. Everything that flies out of your mouth is going forward, and it’s hitting an impenetrable piece of plastic. Dr. Perencevich says, “It just physically can’t go through.”
- Face shields are more comfortable, easier to put on and take off, reusable, simple to clean, and cover a greater area of the face.
- Most importantly, “We feel face shields are far more effective.”
3) Face shield proponents argue, based on the laws of physics shields will likely better protect others. Everything that flies out of your mouth is going forward, and it’s hitting an impenetrable piece of plastic. Dr. Perencevich says, “It just physically can’t go through.”
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4) Research suggests that the coronavirus usually spreads via large droplets expelled out of a person’s mouth or nose, which are pulled down by gravity within a radius of six feet. Hence the six-foot rule.
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5) To get in through the shield’s openings, the virus would need to linger around in the air in smaller particles known as aerosols and eventually meander around the shield’s sides. “But, the patterns of spread of COVID-19 suggest that aerosol is unusual,” tells David Fisman, M.D., an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Toronto.
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6) A May 2020 opinion piece in the Annals of Internal Medicine examined decades of data on the subject, ultimately concluding that no direct evidence indicates that cloth masks are effective in reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2. But, the evidence that they reduce contamination of air and surfaces is convincing and should suffice to inform policy decisions on their use in this pandemic pending further research.
7) So cloth masks seem to be better than nothing, especially for reducing the spread of the coronavirus by people who have the disease but are asymptomatic and not isolating as they would if they had symptoms. And, currently, the CDC recommends because they’re easy to procure, and because less effective doesn’t mean ineffective.
“Face masks are not a bad recommendation. It’s just that I think face shields are better,” Dr. Perencevich says.
“Face masks are not a bad recommendation. It’s just that I think face shields are better,” Dr. Perencevich says.
8) Dr. Michael Edmond, M.D., a hospital epidemiologist at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, adds, “Shields have many benefits that masks don’t.
9) Additionally, shields can be reused after being washed with soap and water or wiped with disinfectant. They also allow people to see nonverbal facial expressions and read lips, which is important for schools and many businesses, and the millions of Americans who are hearing-impaired or deaf.
- They protect not just your nose and mouth, but also your eyes.
- Research now suggests that when SARS-CoV-2 droplets hit the eye they can then spread to infect the rest of the body.
- Shields prevent people from touching their faces, whereas masks often result in people touching their faces more often.
- Also, unlike with masks, you really can't wear them wrong.”
9) Additionally, shields can be reused after being washed with soap and water or wiped with disinfectant. They also allow people to see nonverbal facial expressions and read lips, which is important for schools and many businesses, and the millions of Americans who are hearing-impaired or deaf.
- While shields might look a little unusual they are far more comfortable than masks.
- They allow for easier breathing, and will likely resulted in greater usage and compliance rates.
10) Even if after additional research shields are found to have flaws and even if only a fraction of people start wearing them, shields may still help quell disease transmission.
- Consider the fact that the seasonal influenza vaccine is only 40 to 60 percent effective, but the CDC recommends it because it nevertheless saves thousands of lives.
- To stop the spread of the coronavirus, we only need to slow transmission such that each infected person infects less than one other person on average, and we don’t need a perfect intervention to do that.
Face shields offer a long list of advantages over masks.
They are more comfortable, easy to wear, reusable, more effective, and simply require cleaning with soap and water or common disinfectants. They also form a physical barrier keeping people from easily touching their own faces. Furthermore, it allows the user to be better understood and for visibility of facial expressions and lip movements for improved learning and speech perception.
Face shields should only be one part of any infection control effort, along with social distancing and hand-washing. There will never be any intervention -- even a vaccine -- that can guarantee 100% effectiveness against the coronavirus, so face shields shouldn't be held to that standard either.
When devising your medical plan for home or at work always consult with your physician or medical advisor.
They are more comfortable, easy to wear, reusable, more effective, and simply require cleaning with soap and water or common disinfectants. They also form a physical barrier keeping people from easily touching their own faces. Furthermore, it allows the user to be better understood and for visibility of facial expressions and lip movements for improved learning and speech perception.
Face shields should only be one part of any infection control effort, along with social distancing and hand-washing. There will never be any intervention -- even a vaccine -- that can guarantee 100% effectiveness against the coronavirus, so face shields shouldn't be held to that standard either.
When devising your medical plan for home or at work always consult with your physician or medical advisor.
the face shield's moment HAS comE
JAMA Viewpoint, Eli N. Perencevich, MD, MS1,2; Daniel J. Diekema, MD, MS2; Michael B. Edmond, MD, MPH, MPA2,. April 29, 2020.
A JAMA Viewpoint recently published by Eli Perencevich, MD, of the University of Iowa, and colleagues discussed how face shields for the community may be a viable alternative.
"While medical masks have limited durability and little potential for reprocessing, face shields can be reused indefinitely and are easily cleaned with soap and water, or common household disinfectants," they wrote. They are comfortable to wear, protect the portals of viral entry, and reduce the potential for autoinoculation by preventing the wearer from touching their face."
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Moreover, they noted a simulation study of influenza virus found face shields reduced viral exposure by 96% when worn within 18 inches of a cough. And unlike medical masks, face shields do not have to be removed to communicate with others, they said.
Face shields have proven so effective, leading hospitals like UI Health Care are expanding their use to all employees, not just those with patient care contact, to help reduce the risk of asymptomatic spread as well as to protect their team members from COVID-19. |
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For a more effective PPE solution order your Affordable FaceShields today.
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Stop touching your Face!
Healthline, March 20, 2020.
Your eyes, nose, and mouth are the easiest paths for a virus like COVID-19 to enter the body. All it takes is touching these areas with your hands after you’ve come in contact with the disease on a surface you touched.
When you start thinking about not touching your face, you begin to think of all the things you touch before your hands make it to your face. Filthy door handles, gross elevator buttons, turnstiles, bus poles, well used key pads.
Not touching your face isn’t a novel health warning. It’s a standard admonition when we talk of ways to prevent colds and the flu. But it’s rarely issued as loudly as it has been in the days since it became clear that the coronavirus has jumped American borders.
When you start thinking about not touching your face, you begin to think of all the things you touch before your hands make it to your face. Filthy door handles, gross elevator buttons, turnstiles, bus poles, well used key pads.
Not touching your face isn’t a novel health warning. It’s a standard admonition when we talk of ways to prevent colds and the flu. But it’s rarely issued as loudly as it has been in the days since it became clear that the coronavirus has jumped American borders.
We touch our face about every 3 minutes.
- Studies have found that people touch their faces between 16 to 23 times in an hour.
- Even medical professionals, who should know better, were found to touch their faces an average of 19 times in 2 hours
- Touching your face can significantly increase the risk of infection with flu or cold viruses and the new coronavirus.
- Your eyes and mouth are areas where viruses can easily enter your body.
- We touch our faces so often that the odds of recontaminating our hands between washings are extremely high.
No matter how frequently you wash your hands, it’s not often enough to prevent passing an infection into your system. The best preventive measure is to avoid touching your face as much as possible.
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To reduce incidental touching of your face order your Affordable FaceShields today.
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